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Toyota, BMW, Hyundai Workers' Senators Oppose Rescue

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Top Republican senators said Sunday they will oppose a Democratic plan to bail out Detroit automakers, calling the U.S. industry a ''dinosaur'' whose ''day of reckoning'' is coming. Their opposition raises serious doubts about whether the plan will pass in this week's postelection session. Democratic leaders want to use $25 billion of the $700 billion financial industry bailout to help General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said it would be a mistake to use any of the Wall Street rescue money to prop up...

A Careful, Exacting Indictment   By Jon Kyl NationalLedger.com | Tuesday, June 17, 2008 The following is one of the first reviews of the new book Party of Defeat, a meticulously footnoted tour de force examining how "Radicals Undermined America's War on Terror Before and After 9/11." Its author could hardly be more qualified. Sen. Jon Kyl, the junior senator from Arizona, serves as Senate Minority Whip, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate. Among his many assignments, Sen. Kyl sits on the subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security; and the subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law....

With Eliot Spitzer gone, Chuck Schumer moves to the head of the list of self-righteously bloviating New York pols. So it was particularly satisfying to see Sen. Jon Kyl [R-AZ] put Schumer is his place on today's This Week. A guest with Kyl for purposes of discussing the economy, Schumer clearly came in with a game plan: to analogize President Bush to the man who presided over the beginning of the Great Depression: Herbert Hoover. After he tried it twice, Kyl had had enough and unleashed a riposte that was as reasoned as it was devastating.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., went from being one of 49 Republicans in the Senate to the third-ranking Republican in the Senate's leadership today when he was elected the GOP conference chairman. The secret balloting pitted Alexander, the two-term governor of Tennessee and former Education Secretary, against another freshman senator, Richard Burr of North Carolina. The vote was 31-16. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is running for president, did not participate, and neither did Mississippi's Trent Lott, whose imminent resignation occassioned the reshuffling. Lott had been the party's whip. Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona was elected minority whip,...

The top Senate Republican negotiator on immigration said he has heard the complaints of conservative talk-radio show hosts and bloggers, and will try to change the immigration bill to accommodate them. Sen. Jon Kyl, the Arizona Republican who wrote the bill with Democrats and the Bush administration, said he is making moves to stiffen immigration law enforcement when the Senate bill returns to the floor next week. "All of the concerns from our constituents and some in the media have been listened to, and incorporated," said Mr. Kyl, who is drafting new provisions in an amendment he hopes to offer....

Procedural snares and ``killer'' amendments threaten to disrupt the fragile coalition in the Senate that's holding together the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration policy since 1986. Supporters are scrambling to address the legislative obstacles before debate resumes next week. Opponents plan to try to derail the legislation by using procedural delays and offering poison-pill amendments that may split the coalition that sustains the measure. Passage of the legislation would give 12 million undocumented immigrants a chance at legal status while handing President George W. Bush a victory on his top domestic priority. ``This is a delicate balance. The wheels...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced an updated immigration bill Monday, launching one more attempt to conclude debate on the contentious issue and approve the measure in the Senate before Congress breaks for the 4th of July holiday. The next two weeks are likely the last chance for passage of an immigration bill in the Senate this year, and this seems to be a critical make-or-break moment for advocates of comprehensive reform. The bill was pronounced all but dead two weeks ago, when Reid, a Nevada Democrat, pulled it from consideration after several motions to limit debate failed. At the...

A broad immigration bill to legalize millions of people in the U.S. unlawfully failed a crucial test vote in the Senate Thursday, a stunning setback that could spell its defeat for the year. The vote was 45-50 against limiting debate on the bill, 15 short of the 60 that the bill's supporters needed to prevail. Most Republicans voted to block Democrats' efforts to bring the bill to a final vote. The legislation, which had been endorsed by President Bush, would tighten borders, institute a new system to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers in addition to giving up to 12...

The issue of illegal immigration has been a red-hot topic in my hometown community of Newport Beach/Costa Mesa, Orange County, Southern California. Sincere and heart-felt arguments have been made on both sides of the issue. However, many of those who write letters to the local paper in support of illegal immigration make it sound like Costa Mesa is the only place in the nation whose people favor the enforcement of our immigration laws. They suggest that those elected officials supporting these laws are just a small local band guilty of meanness, bigotry, and racism. Nothing could be further from the...

A landmark compromise on the thorny issue of immigration came under scrutiny in Congress Friday as some Republicans slammed the plan as a blanket amnesty and some Democrats argued it did not go far enough. "The agreement as it stands is hopeless. It is a framework that still has to be fleshed out," said Vanessa Cardenas of the Center for American Progress, after US lawmakers late Thursday struck a deal with the White House on sweeping immigration reform that could allow 12 million illegal immigrants to legalize their status. The pact, announced by a group of Democratic and Republican senators,...

I have had the distinct pleasure of serving with Senator John McCain for the last 12 years in the U.S. Senate. Yet just as important to me as our shared years of service is our common respect for the conservative principles that have guided us in representing our state. That is why the characterization of John McCain as something other than a common-sense conservative is disturbing to me. Senator McCain’s detractors overlook his actual voting record of supporting conservative values. During my time in the Senate with John McCain, we have cast the same vote nearly nine times out of...

WASHINGTON - A Republican senator criticized the Bush administration Monday for failing to aggressively confront China over its test of a satellite-killing weapon, which he called a provocative militarization of space. "Key policy makers seem oblivious to the nature and the urgency of the threat," Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), Ariz., told an audience at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "It's time to start speaking out about this." The Jan. 11 test destroyed a defunct Chinese weather satellite by hitting it with a warhead launched from a ballistic missile. A week later, National Security Council spokesman...

Here'a a memo from pollsters Paul Harstad and Chris Keating the DSCC will release today: "According to our October 29 to 31 survey of 745 likely Arizona voters, fully 30% of the Arizona electorate has already voted. We expect that perhaps up to two-fifths of the voters in this election will vote early or by absentee ballot. In our October 8 to 31 tracking polls (since early voting started) we have interviewed a total of 594 early voters. Among these early voters, Jim Pederson is leading Jon Kyl by 4 points: 44% for Pederson compared to 40% for Kyl, with...

...Time spoke to dozens of academics, political scientists and current and former Senators...

Weekend Talk Show *Preview* for DATE HERE (not the live thread)Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page Meme: Don't believe what the dinosaur media is telling you about November, but don't discount it, either Topics: "Runs, Hits and Errors"A discussion of GOP prospects (from OpinionJournal web site) After Tom DeLay's departure, how bad does November's election now look for Republicans, and can they do anything to stop a rout? The 2006 elections: With DeLay out of the picture, can the GOP get its mojo back? (FNC web site)Baseball steroids (from OpinionJournal web site) Major League Baseball finally confronts...

After months of criticism of President Bush’s policy, gloomy press coverage that seemed to focus almost entirely on car bombs, and near panic on the part of some Congressional Democrats, we now have a useful barometer to assess the real state of affairs in Iraq - Thursday’s historic and enormously successful parliamentary elections. The third national plebiscite vote in just two years since Iraq’s liberation from Saddam Hussein was largely free of violence and saw a turnout rate higher than most western nations’. Millions of Iraqis who proudly dipped their fingers in purple ink, enjoying the democracy that our troops...

Let's face it, our elected officials don't have a clue about how to reduce illegal immigration. After President Bush proposed a guest worker program in January 2004, he repeatedly has said, illegal border crossing must stop. He now says he is looking for an overall strategy to curb illegal immigration. Congress can't agree on what to do about illegal immigration. McCain, Kolbe, Flake and Ted Kennedy, want a guest worker program and also want to allow some undocumented immigrants to become legal residents, but they insist that is not an amnesty. Senator Jon Kyl wants illegal immigrants to go home,...

The last group President Bush thought he had to worry about opposing Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. But it turns out the man most responsible for taking Miers down was an insider, the G.O.P.'s fourth-ranked Senator, Jon Kyl (rhymes with smile). The second-term conservative from Arizona argued at length in meetings with majority leader Bill Frist and G.O.P. whip Mitch McConnell that the Miers nomination was too risky ideologically and too costly politically, sources on Capitol Hill tell TIME. From Day One, says a G.O.P. staff member, "[Kyl] was trying to kill Miers."...

In Support of John Roberts and Judicial Independence Senator Jon Kyl September 27, 2005 Mr. President, I rise in support of the nomination of Judge John Roberts to be the Chief Justice of the United States. Much has already been said about Judge Roberts’s intellect, character, qualifications, experience, and eloquently-expressed commitment to the rule of law. I certainly agree with those who have been impressed with these qualities. Moreover, I believe that these are the qualities that should govern this body’s Advise-and- Consent role — intelligence, character, experience, and commitment to the rule of law. It is when we go...

Violence Against Women Act Passes Senate Judiciary Committee With Amendment The Senate Judiciary Committee held a mark-up of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization today. The bill, which expires on September 30, passed out of committee, but an amendment was added that could prevent or delay its passage by the full Senate. The amendment, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), on behalf of Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), would create a national registry of DNA taken from any person who has been detained by the police, even if the person is not arrested or convicted. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) tried...

There are many who argue that America's borders are simply too vast to comprehensively protect against illegal immigration, and that efforts to do so are a waste of resources better spent on "pragmatic" and "realistic" approaches to accommodating illegal aliens already here.I've always thought this view is not just wrong, but dangerously so - defeatism actually encourages more people to risk their lives crossing parched desert in order to jump ahead of those waiting to enter the United States legally (or do something worse, in the case of a terrorist).Of course, other developed nations seem to manage to keep their...

Frustrated that a compromise has not been struck, conservative senators and their allies are threatening to schedule a vote that would repeal the estate tax permanently. Unless Democrats agree to a deal, Republicans are vowing to use the estate-tax vote as political ammunition in the 2006 cycle. There is a growing sense that achieving a reduction in the tax rate while indexing the value of the exemption to inflation has much broader appeal in the Senate. Lobbyists and aides said that a complete repeal would not garner 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. It remains unclear when a vote...

For more than two hundred years, even the most controversial of presidential judicial nominees had been accorded the courtesy of an up-or-down vote when they reach the floor of the Senate. In the last session of Congress, however, the Democratic leadership broke with this tradition, routinely filibustering (requiring a 60-vote supermajority to end debate) 10 of President Bush's nominees to appellate courts and threatening the same treatment of six more. As a result, President Bush had fewer circuit court nominees confirmed in his first term than any president in modern times.The effect was not only to deny these nominees a...

April 15, 2005 First Step: Show Commitment to Enforcing Existing Laws Necessary Conditions for Immigration Reform Executive Summary • The federal government has failed in its basic duty to secure and protect its borders and to enforce immigration laws in the nation’s interior. • As a result, many Americans are increasingly cynical about the willingness — or ability — of the government to live up to its enforcement obligations and uphold the Rule of Law. • These enforcement failures have enabled the illegal alien population in the United States to grow to at least 11 million people. • The effects...

This week, Congress will send legislation to President Bush denying economic assistance to any foreign government that refuses to protect U.S. troops, government personnel, and civilians from arbitrary arrest and prosecution before the United Nations International Criminal Court (ICC). While nearly 100 nations have signed "non surrender" agreements with the U.S., many refuse to do so.The United States is not a party to the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction. Even so, the court can currently arrest and prosecute our troops and personnel operating in U.N. peacekeeping missions if the host nation is a member of the ICC, accepts...

Save Roe: Elect Specter by Timothy P. Carney Posted Oct 19, 2004 The liberal Philadelphia Inquirer has endorsed Sen. Arlen Specter on the grounds that a vote for Specter is a vote to save Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that overturned all state bans on abortion. In its endorsement of Specter, the Inquirer writes: Preserving the legality of abortion plays no small part in this decision. Sometime in the next four years, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee will very likely find himself in the pivotal role of scrutinizing at least one new Supreme Court nominee. Assuming that Republicans...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) made the following remarks during a Bush-Cheney '04 conference call: "[W]e compared the record of another respected Democratic senator, Senator Bingaman from New Mexico, with Senator Kerry’s votes on going to war in Iraq and then the later vote of supporting the troops in Iraq -- the $87 billion supplemental. And it’s interesting that unlike John Kerry, Senator Bingaman’s votes were exactly the opposite. He had a principled position; he felt it was wrong to give the President authority to go into Iraq, and so he actually voted against that resolution. But...

The most important Senate race of 2004 will be over on April 27. The race is the Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary between liberal incumbent Arlen Specter and conservative Congressman Pat Toomey. Many editorialists have argued that, if Toomey manages to oust Specter from office, it will send an important warning to overspending incumbent Republicans in Congress. An important warning, without a doubt, but spending is not the only issue. The identity of the next Senate Judiciary Chairman may also hinge on whether Toomey can defeat Specter on April 27. If Specter wins re-election, he will likely be the next chairman...

United States Senate Republican Policy CommitteeJon Kyl, Chairman347 Russell Senate Office BuildingWashington DC 20510http://rpc.senate.govFebruary 11, 2004Same-Sex Marriages Legal in Massachusetts on May 17Judicial Activism Forces Same-Sex Marriage on the NationA 4-3 majority of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled last November in Goodridge v. Massachusetts Dep’t of Health, 798 N.E. 2d 941 (Mass. 2003), that the state’s refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated the state constitution. The court concluded that to insist on traditional marriage was to engage in “invidious” discrimination that the court would not tolerate. The majority, therefore, ruled that marriage must be open...

                                    U.S. Senate                                 Committee on Armed Services,                                Washington, DC, October 9, 1998.       The President,       The White House, Washington, DC.           Dear Mr. President: We are writing to express our concern        over recent developments in Iraq.           Last February, the Senate was working on a resolution        supporting military action if diplomacy did not succeed in        convincing Saddam Hussein to comply with the United Nations        Security Council resolutions concerning the disclosure and        destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. This        effort was discontinued when the Iraqi government reaffirmed        its...

<p>WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The White House has run into its first public opposition over a proposed guest-worker program -- and it comes from within President Bush's own party.</p> <p>The initiative, announced Jan. 7, would let millions of illegal aliens now in the United States remain as guest workers for renewable three-year periods if they have jobs. The aliens eventually could apply for permanent legal residence.</p>

Very good synopsis on the appeasers at home and abroad

<p>"Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules. That these rules shall be (equal) will certainly be the aim of our legislatures."</p>

<p>Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules. That these rules shall be (equal) will certainly be the aim of our legislatures."</p>

By Senator Jon Kyl “Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules. That these rules shall be [equal] will certainly be the aim of our legislatures." So wrote Thomas Jefferson 202 years ago. His sentiment then holds true today. America should be a welcoming haven for immigrants. But those seeking citizenship must follow our nation's rules. And our governments, both local and federal, have a responsibility to apply immigration laws...

Aid package to help border hospitals cover cost of illegal immigrants BROWNSVILLE (AP) — Border hospitals lose millions of dollars annually caring for sick or injured illegal immigrants, but a $1 billion federal aide package promises relief. "The federal government finally realized that there is a huge burden placed on the border hospitals to pay for the cost of the illegal aliens," said Dr. Lorenzo Pelly, a trauma surgeon at Valley Regional Medical Center. "It's a national issue because it is the federal government that has to stop the flow of the illegal aliens and they cannot do it." A...

<p>As part of the horse-trading to win votes for the prescription-drug bill, House Republican leaders promised to hold a vote on a bill requiring hospitals that treat illegal aliens to report them to federal authorities.</p> <p>The Medicare overhaul bill, which passed the House on Saturday and the Senate on Tuesday, includes $1 billion to reimburse hospitals for treating indigent illegal immigrants.</p>

WASHINGTON -- Landmark Medicare legislation moving through Congress would give hospitals at least $1 billion during the next four years to cover the spiraling costs of providing emergency services for undocumented immigrants. The provision would be particularly crucial for hospitals near the U.S.-Mexico border, including hospitals in El Paso. The House was expected to vote on the Medicare measure today. A Senate vote may not come until Monday. "We're keeping our fingers crossed," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. Kyl is the author of the original legislation to reimburse hospitals, and he persuaded lawmakers to include the money in the $395...

"Terrorist Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an Operational Base. "Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information #webcast-arch {float: right; position: relative; top: 5px;} DATE: October 14, 2003TIME: 10:00 AM ROOM: SD-226 OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST: October 8, 2003 NOTICE OF SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING REVISED TITLE The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Room 226 on "Terrorism: Radical Islamic Influence of Chaplaincy of the U.S. Military and Prisons." Senator Kyl will preside....

Recent hearings by my Subcommittee on Terrorism have exposed the growing dominance of a radical sect of Islam in the United States. This sect, commonly referred to as Wahhabism, preaches jihad against Christians, Jews, and Muslims who don't toe the wahhabi line. All 19 of the September 11 hijackers were followers of Wahhabism, as is Osama bin Laden. This violent perversion of Islamic faith has been responsible for terrorist attacks against innocent civilians - both Muslim and non-Muslim - all over the world. As a movement, Wahhabism has established publishing operations, schools, and charities in many countries. The self-labeled "educational...

Upcoming Kyl Hearing To Examine Terrorist Infiltration in MilitaryWASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) today issued the following statement in response to the arrests of a third suspect connected to the Guantamano Bay espionage probe and Abdurahman Alamoudi, a founder of the military’s Muslim chaplain program, on charges of illegal dealings with Libya: "On October 14, I will chair a Senate hearing that closely examines to what extent Islamic radicals have infiltrated the military and other key U.S. institutions and recruited Americans to their cause. These recent arrests - particularly the arrest of Abdurahman Alamoudi, a chief architect...

WASHINGTON -- The spying charge against an Air Force translator at the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, underscores the U.S. government's shortage of Arabic language specialists at a time when the war on terrorism demands their skills.To offset the shortage of U.S.-trained Arabic translators, U.S. intelligence officials were relying on Syria-born airman Ahmad al-Halabi to carry out sensitive assignments involving the terrorism suspects.Al-Halabi, 24, who emigrated from Syria to Dearborn, Mich., in 1996 and joined the Air Force after high school graduation in 1999, faces 32 military charges, including some that could involve the death penalty, for alleged...

ON CAPITOL HILLSenate panel probes Muslim subversion Investigation to look at recruitment of Islamic chaplains for military Posted: September 27, 2003 By J. Michael Waller© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com With a Muslim army chaplain imprisoned in a Navy brig as an alleged terrorist spy, the military must rethink how it recruits and screens Islamic clergy, according to a key Senate ally of the administration's counterterrorism policies. "I'm gratified that military authorities have taken action to investigate what may be an alarming breach of security in our armed services, and I strongly recommend that the Pentagon review its policies in regard to the recruitment of...

If the only pictures ever shown of Phoenix were of frustrated citizens waiting in gas lines, they'd have a pretty skewed view of what a great city Phoenix is. Similarly, if the only people the media ever spoke to about America were angry demonstrators in San Francisco, you might believe that America was nearing collapse. Even Parisians would object if all you ever learned about France was that its government was being faulted of the deaths of 11,000 people in a brutal heat wave there. Yet these are just the sort of one-sided pictures we are getting every night on...

September 10th, 2003 will forever be remembered as a grim day for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). On that day, the eve of the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, CAIR faced up to its own terrorist connections. It ran away from testifying before an influential Senate panel that heard a barrage of incriminating evidence about the group and its connections. It saw one of its former officials plead guilty to terrorist-related crimes in Federal Court. And, it was stood up by two Department of Justice officials at an immigration symposium in Florida. CAIR should find it hard...

Today marks the second anniversary of the worst, most cold-blooded attacks on the United States since its Founding. In his address to the nation this past Sunday, President Bush said that: We have learned that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness. And the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans. We are fighting the enemy (abroad) so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities. Defense of our people...

<p>U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service law enforcement officer Rob Peloquin exams one of 20 or 25 abandoned vehicles in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.</p> <p>An Arizona senator wants the U.S. Border Patrol to have more off-road access when combatting illegal smuggling operations that rip through pristine deserts along the border.</p>

Terrorism: Growing Wahhabi Influence in the United StatesBy Jon KylFrontPageMagazine.com | July 3, 2003 Although the subject of Saudi-funded Wahhabi extremism and its ties to terrorism will be familiar to FrontPage Magazine readers, Capitol Hill is finally beginning to take notice. Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ, chaired hearings on "Terrorism: Growing Wahhabi Influence in the United States" last Thursday, June 26, before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. We reproduce the testimony of thee witnesses before that subcommittee: Alex Alexiev of the Center for Security Policy, Stephen Schwartz of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and Larry Mefford of...

Sen. John McCain says he won't be surprised if an influential conservative group that supports President Bush's tax-cutting plan targets him in attack ads. But Club for Growth President Stephen Moore says the group has no such plans. McCain remains among four Republican senators who have joined with Democrats in opposing Bush's $550 billion tax-cut plan. His appears to be a key swing vote with the president needing just two more to gain Senate approval. But the Washington, D.C.-based Club for Growth, which has been running TV spots attacking two other Republican holdouts, Sens. George Voinovich of Ohio and Olympia...